


(he left the town long before) yet his house is still standing in the same place

by foxmulder_whereartthou



Category: Persona 2, Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Cafe Leblanc (Persona 5), Fluff, Gen, Good Parent Sakura Sojiro, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Persona 5 Protagonist is from Inaba, another wonderful thing katie helped me with !! i will never get over them, parents angst?? tatsujun parents??? sojiro parent????? all in one babey
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-24
Updated: 2020-07-24
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:47:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 866
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25497070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/foxmulder_whereartthou/pseuds/foxmulder_whereartthou
Summary: Akira doesn't speak about home often, but on the rare occasion he does, Sojiro listens.It's good to know there was somebody back home he misses.
Relationships: Kurosu Jun/Suou Tatsuya, Kurusu Akira & Sakura Sojiro
Comments: 3
Kudos: 169





	(he left the town long before) yet his house is still standing in the same place

**Author's Note:**

> writing this like  
> akira: says anything, drinks his coffee, smiles  
> me: so the fucking fog, right-

It was close to the end of Akira’s stay in Tokyo - something that should’ve been celebrated, but instead weighed them all down, putting a damper on every conversation and get together - in the simplest terms, his days were numbered. 

Sojiro was going to miss him terribly, he knew, and it was about time to accept that fact. 

On this particular day, however, it was easy to see Akira’s sadness, each of his protective layers being stripped away as the date of his departure loomed ever closer. So, of course, Sojiro lingered, and asked if Akira’d like a cup of coffee before he left.

“Um, okay,” he replied, taken aback, but Sojiro could see where the beginnings of a small smile were starting to form.   
“I’ll whip you up something special,” Sojiro grinned, using a soft tone he usually saved for Futaba. “My treat.”

Every sound felt so natural, so practiced now, just like his motions when he made coffee. The cat jumped out of his bag, thundering across the thin attic floor and settling into bed, and Sojiro put the water to boil. Akira laughed - a muffled, secretive sound - and in that split-second Sojiro could picture the look in his face as he must’ve done so, content and quiet as he glanced down at his phone, and Sakura watched intently as the water poured out in a thin line into the filter. There was a small thump as his bag and jacket were tossed aside, clattering with the handmade tools on Akira’s desk, and the coffee dripped down in a steady, beating rhythm in time with the footsteps coming down the stairs.

“Here you go,” Sakura said, and Akira took the cup from the saucer in his fingertips like a seasoned regular, the steam rising up and clouding his glasses like the fog outside. 

In all the time he’d been in Tokyo, Akira hardly ever spoke of his parents, and his life back home. Sojiro wasn’t one to pry - and from what he knew, and from all those phone calls that never connected, he supposed Akira had good reason to not say anything. But tonight was different.

“Weather like this always reminds me of home,” Akira says, smiling into his sip, “It’s foggy all the time in Inaba.”

Sojiro hates how long it takes him to respond, and even then, it’s merely a pathetic; “Really?” 

Looking wistfully out of the window into the street, where the mist careens and dives like ballroom-dancing ghosts, Akira continues nevertheless, replying, “Yeah. There’s this couple who are friends with my parents - one of them owns a flower shop. Whenever the fog gets too dense to navigate through, they always let me come in for some coffee and a chat - about any problems I had, y’know?”

And instantly, something within Sojiro swells because thank  _ god, _ this kid had some sort of support system back home - something other than parents that betrayed him and a community that wronged him. Sojiro doesn’t hesitate in asking what they’re like.

“Oh, they’re lovely. Family friends, but I’ve always liked them more than my parents did,” Akira pauses for a moment at that, and his words hang in the air like the steam and the fog, but doesn’t let it stop him. “Jun runs the flower shop, and his husband Tatsuya is there most of the time too. I really do miss them - when I was little, Jun taught me about what different kinds of flowers mean, and Tatsuya let me ride on the back of his motorcycle.”

At  _ ‘his  _ husband’, Sojiro quirks an eyebrow, surprised - he always thought of small towns as oppressive - but then again, he wouldn’t know. However, Akira startles him out of this thought by laughing darkly into his cup.

“I’ve always liked them better than my parents,” he murmurs, his gaze trailing off somewhere behind Sojiro in a weak attempt to avoid his worried glance, “I used to dream of living with them instead, and going far, far away from Inaba.”

“Like where?”

Softly, Akira chuckled again into his hands, and the overhead light reflected over his messy black hair, creating a heavenly halo of light to surround him as he replied; “I don’t know. Destinyland, probably.”

* * *

Barely a few days later, Sojiro gets a call, and is surprised when the caller asks to speak with Akira.

He’s surprised further when Akira half-yells ‘TATSUYA??’ into the phone.    
Tatsuya and Jun are in Tokyo, apparently, and they’d like to come over for a coffee in Leblanc, if it was okay.

Observed by Sojiro and Futaba from behind the bar, Akira’s like a little kid while he waits for the Suous to arrive, pacing so much he might as well be bouncing off the walls. 

When they finally arrive, swamping Akira in a hug, they never stop apologising.   
“We should’ve asked about you,” “We’re so sorry,” “We shouldn’t’ve let you go alone,”

But Sojiro shoots them a stern look - a look he didn’t even know he knew how to do - a silent communication between parents. Sojiro thought of Akira to be his kid almost as much as Futaba, and does not miss the way Akira’s eyes brighten for the rest of the week. 

**Author's Note:**

> wow this was . hard to write. it fizzled out towards the end but i tried !! fsjdg  
> be still my beating heart
> 
> thank you for reading !! love u all


End file.
